Texas unemployment remains at 5.7%

The Texas unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.7 percent in February even though employers added 37,600 payroll positions.

The seasonally adjusted rate compares with last month’s U.S. figure of 6.7 percent. Eight of the state’s 11 major job categories showed growth in February, led by mining, which includes oil and gas production.

The Texas Workforce Commission said the state has added 314,200 jobs in the past 12 months. That included a revised gain of 43,000 in January, bringing total jobs statewide up 2.8 percent since February 2013.

In Fort Worth-Arlington, the jobless rate last month was also 5.7 percent, unchanged from January. That figure is unadjusted for seasonal fluctuations and compares with an unadjusted Texas rate of 5.9 percent.

The Midland area, in the heart of the Permian Basin oil boom, had the state’s lowest jobless rate in February, at 3 percent. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area was the highest, at 10.3 percent.